PPF launches new Czech investment firm with Semotan and Hudec

The PPF Group is launching a new investment company for clients of Air Bank and PPF banka, and has brought in two of the most prominent fund managers on the Czech market — Michal Semotan and Patrik Hudec — to lead the build-out. Both have spent years running funds with billions of crowns in assets, and will now be responsible for shaping the new platform's investment strategy and product line-up.

PPF is preparing the launch of a new investment company that, once regulatory approval is complete, will be able to offer products to both retail and qualified investors. According to Kateřina Irásková, chair of the board of PPF Financial Holdings and co-CEO of the PPF Group, the arrival of Semotan and Hudec marks “an important milestone in building the group's new investment platform,” since both are among the most experienced portfolio managers on the Czech market.

PPF's goal is to build a major local player in the investment sector, one that combines asset-management expertise with the group's digital distribution and capital resources. Products from the new company are expected to become available to clients of PPF's financial institutions, above all Air Bank and PPF banka. The group has not yet disclosed specifics of the product line-up, promising more details in the coming months.

Michal Semotan has worked on the Czech capital market for more than 20 years. After graduating from the Faculty of Finance and Accounting at the University of Economics in Prague, he began his career at Investkonzult in 1997 and moved a year later to J&T Securities as a broker. From 2004 to 2011 he was responsible for client trading at J&T Banka, and from 2012 he worked at J&T Investiční společnost, where he became manager of the J&T Opportunity fund and later took charge of the J&T Dividend, J&T NextGen and J&T Energy funds. J&T Opportunity remained for a long time one of the best-performing equity funds on the Czech market, regularly outperforming the main stock indices.

Patrik Hudec has an academic background in financial and actuarial mathematics, having graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at Charles University, and holds the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) qualification. He began his investment career while still a student, at PPF Asset Management, where he rose to senior portfolio manager responsible for equity and commodity investments. After PPF's insurance assets were integrated into the Generali group, he headed the team of Generali fund portfolio managers in Prague and later in Budapest, served as regional director for equity investments, and held several management positions on the boards of Generali's foreign investment companies.

The PPF Group is a private international investment holding company operating in 25 countries across Europe, North America and Asia. Its portfolio spans telecommunications, media, financial services, real estate, e-commerce, industry and biotechnology. As of 31 December 2025, the group's own figures put its assets at €42.6 billion, with around 37,000 employees worldwide.

By the Around Prague newsroom